Town hall may not receive council tax payments triggering ‘demand letter’

Residents who pay their Council Tax by direct debit could receive an angry letter from town hall bosses because of the Natwest banking ‘glitch’.

Thousands of the bank’s customers have been unable to access their money, pay bills or receive payments after a software upgrade caused an IT meltdown 10 days ago.

The nationwide problem also affected the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Ulster Bank.

Yesterday (Thursday), the council released a statement that RBS is its clearing bankers so Council Tax payments may not show up on their system resulting in a letter demanding payment being sent out.

The council also said ‘We will do everything possible to minimise the impact on customers and at the moment we are not aware of any transactions that have either failed or been duplicated. We will keep customers informed as more information becomes available.’

Hundreds of NatWest and RBS branches will open with extended hours for a second weekend to tackle the ongoing problems faced by customers.

Are you a Brent resident who has been affected by the glitch?

Call 020 7433 6228 or email lorraine.king@archant.co.uk.